You’ve probably heard that there’s a big event going on about food at SteelStacks… Taste: a celebration of farms and food. This is a great opportunity to support local farms and local food between noon and 4 p.m. Lynn Prior of Buy Fresh Buy Local has been working hard to make this a fantastic experience and we encourage you to support it.

In concert with this event, for those who understand that there are issues with our food systems and appreciate the power of personal narrative to move mountains, RenewLV has been working with Northampton Community College to organize a community conversation on the topic of food, “Getting into the Kitchen.”

We believe that open-hearted story-telling in a safe space among people of different cultural backgrounds is critical to building relationships, increasing empathy, creating community healing and ultimately solving our most challenging community problems. Joining us for this next discussion is a proactive step that you can take in this direction. After past discussions like this, participants have said that they connected to people and made new friends. Please join us on Sunday.

The aim of this discussion is to collect “Food Stories” rich with the flavors and textures of your family and culture.

The community conversation will take place from 12:15 to 2 p.m., with registration starting at noon at the NCC Fowler Center at 511 E. 3rd Street, Bethlehem — just a block from the Taste event!

You can do both. You can do it all.

Come join us at the Fowler Center at noon, for the guided conversation about food, family, community and culture. Then head over to the Taste event.

Our discussion is part of a six-month project, Food in the Public Square,, an exploration of the local food supply coordinated by Northampton Community College in conjunction with RenewLV, Second Harvest Food Bank, the Hispanic Center, BuyFresh,BuyLocal Lehigh Valley, and the Penn State Agricultural Extension.

As such, we are collecting “Food Stories” from people like you. We think you have a story and we’d love to hear it.

All participants will have their story captured with a audio recorder. Some will be captured by video. If you’re wondering what this might look like…here are three short (60-90 second) videos of Food Stories from the last event:

As many of you know, food access and security are issues with too many people in the Lehigh Valley. Hasshan Batts, social worker and inspirational speaker “Coach Batts” shared his thoughts on the topic. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hIVAEXCCoY

We want to hear the “Food Stories” most precious to you, your family, your community and your culture. After the event a team of scholars from area colleges and universities will see how your story fits within the larger intellectual conversations focusing on food policy and food justice. That’s when the mountains can start to move.

Please join us at noon at the Fowler Center and then come to the Taste event at nearby SteelStacks. Other food related activities you can enjoy after the discussion include cooking demonstrations, tastings, children’s activities, the screening of two movies: “What’s on Your Plate”( 2 p.m.) and “Plant This Movie” (3:45), as well as “Food Poetics” workshops led by award-winning poet Marilyn Hazelton for both children and adults. It’s going to be fun!

Kelly Allen of Northampton Community College has asked me to reach out to you with an invitation for your participation in a free Community Conversation on Sunday, July 24th at 12:15 p.m.

Kelly and a dynamic team of scholars and community partners invite you to an exciting Community Conversation, “Getting into the Kitchen.” This interactive conversation will take place at Northampton Community College’s Fowler Center at 511 East 3rd Street on Bethlehem’s Southside. This represents the second in a three-part conversation as part of the six-month “Food in the Public Square” project that launched in May of this year, funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

The aim with this project will be to collect “food stories,” rich with the flavors of “your” family and culture.

While Sunday’s event will be facilitated by academics and community organizers, the information gathered and assessed will come directly from you and the other the participants.

The goal of these conversations is to learn about and capture the food culture of the Lehigh Valley. What are the food decisions we make and how are they influenced by who or what we are? We have wonderful ethnic food traditions tied to our food, but often these meals are time consuming to prepare. This conversation, “Getting into the Kitchen” will also ask, “Who’s in the kitchen?”

To see how we have captured food stories from a previous community conversation,

Marylou Seixas, resident of South Bethlehem shares her cross-generational family food stories. Click here to see her video story on YouTube

Rather than use our scholars as an authority to disseminate information, we are looking to you for the wisdom. The scholars create the questions to provoke discussion:

Given the demands of modern life and families with two working parents, how are you handling the preparation of our meals, especially those important foods or meals connected to our heritage?

How have your eating and cooking practices changed between childhood and adulthood? Why?

How do you make your food choices with regard to food preparation?

Do you have certain food preparation rituals? Please describe them and the roles played by your various family members.

We want to hear the stories most precious to you, your family and your culture. What you share will be recorded through audio and video. After the event, the scholars will figure out how your stories fit within the larger intellectual conversations focusing on food policy and food justice.

At the event Kelly Allen, a Northampton Community College professor who is managing this project, will explain what this project will accomplish and why this discussion is important.

Today, I need your help with an important opportunity dealing with food and food justice in the Lehigh Valley. It won’t cost a penny. In fact, it will be pleasant, we hope deeply enriching, and we’ll even provide you with lunch. You can reserve your spot at the table here. We’ll have fun.

We need fun.

We know that things are not fair for everyone in the Lehigh Valley, especially when we talk about food. Food insecurity is disturbingly common with over 70,000 people each month relying on the Second Harvest Food Bank of the Lehigh Valley and Northeast PA to feed themselves. In their service area, one in nine people and one in six children struggles with hunger. That’s certainly a conversation we need to have.

At the same time, in our region we see people opening food-truck businesses, some selling delicious ethnic foods, young farmers “digging in” to farming, seeing it as a viable business opportunity, urban millennials are starting rooftop gardens, immigrants are planting community gardens, school children are learning how to plant vegetables and we celebrate communities like Easton, PA who are forging a new economy with restaurants and food-related businesses like the new Easton Public Market.

Additionally, I’d like to ask you to bring a friend. Not just any friend, though. Please invite someone you know whose food-related story you believe has not been adequately told or heard. If they need a ride, please offer to drive them.

We expect the stories we collect to be diverse. They may illustrate the excitement of food entrepreurship, the frustration of food access related to age or income, what it’s like living in a food desert, what it feels like to not be able to access ethnic food or fresh produce, successful or failed experiences with gardening or farming, or some other related topic.

Permit me to explain.

RenewLV has been invited to partner with Northampton Community College and other organizations on an NEH (National Endowment for the Humanities) funded project called “Food and the Public Square — The Collective Human Experience.” Throughout the next six months, we’re hosting public forums and programs to generate humanities-based community dialogue about human and cultural values related to food. It’s a fascinating project. You can read more about it here:

This conversation and our end product will be different than our previous community conversations that centered on food policy. This conversation will recognize the powerful impact of personal stories — stories of food, family and community — stories “of the heart.”

During three public lunch/discussions in May, July and October we will be collecting stories about food in the Lehigh Valley. Everyone is invited, but we are especially interested in hearing and recording the stories of the “under-heard.”

Later, an esteemed team of scholars will look at the stories we collect, identify themes and place them in an academic framework.

This will mean that these stories told at our events will be “heard,” in a deep sense, that they will get the attention of the academic community. We are lining up bi-lingual Spanish/English table hosts, so please feel free to invite your native Spanish-speaking friends whose English proficiency might make them otherwise reluctant to participate. And, since most people seem to like Spanish food, we’ll even have some of that for lunch.

The questions we will ask are:

How important is food for you?

Which are your concerns regarding food?

How do you make your food choices?

How have your eating practices changed between childhood and adulthood?

If you have enjoyed our previous lunch/discussions, we think you will really enjoy this one. This format gives us an opportunity to get to know each other better, take a “deep dive” into what stirs us about the larger conversation of food, family and community, and perhaps make some new friends…”breaking bread” will do that.

But, space is limited, so you need to reserve your spot. Please join us for lunch next Friday and share your “food story.” Click here to register.

The lunch/discussion is just a part of a full day of activities. If you could, it would be my recommendation that you clear your calendar for Friday in order to come early and stay late.

The day begins at 10 am with a nationally acclaimed scholar on the topic of food justice, Dr. Julie Guthman (If food justice is at all important to you, you will definitely want to come early to hear her!)

May 14 at 2 pm!

Make friends, discuss civic activism, new urbanism, smart growth, making a difference, and anything on your mind about your neighborhood or regional growth. We will be discussing Becoming Jane Jacobs by Peter Laurence, which you can order for $34.95 by calling Allentown’s Moravian Book Store at 610-351-0849. We have copies, so come even if you don’t have this book.

Past events have been great – come, have a lovely chat and meet a new group of interesting people! You might learn something along the way too.

We invite you to help us grow the local food economy at a community conversation next Monday, April 25th from 5:30-8 p.m. at Williams Hall of Lehigh University.

Last March 29th RenewLV gathered 125 people to discuss food entrepreneurship and learn about a successful food hub in Boston, MA.

Last December, at the RenewLV Summit for Smart Growth Jon Middleton of Sodexo described his compelling vision for a food hub that included distribution, aggregation, a shared used commercial kitchen, a restaurant and a retail store.

This is a big idea, so we are going to take a second bite at that apple next Monday. Register here.

The Assessment Report: Lehigh Valley Local Food Economy states, “The local food economy generates $17 million in economic activity for the Lehigh Valley and has the potential to contribute much more. If residents spent just $10/week on locally grown food, nearly $100 million in economic activity would be generated annually, providing jobs, business incubation and expansion, and economic growth for our local farms, businesses and service providers.” (p. 1)

Help identify and fill the gaps in our regional food system. Jon Middleton estimates that if his firm, sourced all of their food locally, it would bring an additional $100 million per year into the Lehigh Valley’s economy.

If you are available Monday, please join us to:

Better understand the needs of the institutional buyers

Better understand what makes a food hub successful.

Hear about a collaboration between the Lehigh University and the Lehigh Valley Food Policy Council’s Infrastructure and Logistics working group to determine “what’s already out there” in terms of aggregation and distribution facilities

Connect with supports for starting and scaling up food-based businesses

Understand the role of farmland preservation in growing the local food economy

This event is a collaboration between RenewLV and Lehigh University’s Center for Community Engagement. It follows the day-long Community-Engaged Learning and Research Symposium, an inaugural event that will showcase the breadth and depth that impact-making practices bring to Lehigh University, neighborhoods and the world — sponsored by the Office of the Provost, the Office of the Vice President for Research and Graduate Studies, the Center for Community Engagement and Lehigh University Community Fellows.

We hope to see you next Monday. There is no charge for this event, but seating is limited, so reserve your spot here today. Refreshments will be provided.

Repeatedly we heard from people that they enjoyed them. People talked about “the energy in the room.” We saw that each event attracted a full room of passionate people willing to roll up their sleeves and innovate solutions.

We conducted a satisfaction survey half way through the schedule of events to see how we were doing.

87% of respondents said they learned information or made a connection that helped them with a project.

They also said they were inspired and enjoyed the energy and hopefulness of like-minded people working in the Lehigh Valley.

They further noted that they learned about exciting programs and positive shifts in thinking to support healthy people and communities.

But some people also said, “Sure, there were some great conversations, but what actually come out of those meetings?”

That’s a fair question.

We gathered the people together to inspire, connect and listen to each other. We believed that when we come together like this, we create an environment where it’s easy to work together to self-create solutions.

Did that happen?

Todd Nemura of the Children’s Home of Easton ran into a funder at one of our lunch/discussions. Already supporting one program of his organization, the funder encouraged Todd to apply for funding for a second program. Todd followed up and he was awarded a grant that permitted him to provide healthy food and gardening education to approximately 100 urban children.

Cathy Coyne of LVHN said that she found the lunch/discussions good places to connect and find out what other people in the community are doing around healthy food. As a result, when the Lehigh Valley Food Policy Council formally launched in September 2015, she was energized to co-chair the Consumer Education working group. This group is collaborating to create information about where to access fresh food so that doctors can easily hand that information to their patients.

Jesse Barrett of Rodale Institute connected with Zeke Zelker at one of our events and they collaborated to provide nutrition and gardening information at an existing program with which Zeke is affiliated, The Community Canvas Program. This four year old in-school program, a partnership between LVHN and Lehigh Valley Art Spark, now includes Rodale Institute as a partner. This year Rodale Institute will provide a farmer to present urban gardening concepts and “how food grows” education in addition to garden towers for each school. This program combines healthy living and food and gardening education with the arts for approximately 150 to 400 students in each of six elementary and middle schools. The student artists are given a lunchbox full of supplies and asked to create a piece of art work based upon what they learned in the school assembly. Not only are they learning about healthy living through gardening, but they are expressing what they are learning through art!

It worked! These gatherings are a place where innovation and collaboration happen. We couldn’t be happier.

But this is just the tip of the iceberg! We would love to know if you participated, “What was your experience? Do you have a quick story of some good that came out of attending one of our lunch/discussion meetings on food?

Please let us know.

Also, if you have not already registered for the next gathering of the Lehigh Valley Food Policy Council, our Semi-Annual Meeting on 4/5 at 5:30 p.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Bethlehem, you will want to do so now.

This is the chance you have to plug into the exciting work of the one or more of the working groups on these topics:

Farm to School – improving healthy food options in Lehigh Valley schools through increased utilization of local foods, educating community school boards, administrators, and teachers of the many benefits of utilizing local food purchases

Farming – overcoming farming barriers, new farmer training and retention, planning for the local food eocnomy

Entrepreneurship – growing the local food eocnomy through addressing barriers to start up and scaling up of local food and beverage businesses

It’s sure to be a really dynamic evening.

We would LOVE to have you come join us so that you can contribute your voice to the larger effort, plug into a working group that captures your passion and be a part of the Lehigh Valley’s food revolution.

Mark your calender for The Lehigh Valley Food Policy Council Semi-Annual Meeting gathering on April 5th from 5:45-8 pm at the Unitarian Universalist Church of the Lehigh Valley at 424 Center Street, Bethlehem PA 18018.

The Lehigh Valley Food Policy Council is a project organized using the principles of Collective Impact in which the following nineteen organizations work together to gain traction on reducing food insecurity and growing the local food economy:

The Lehigh Valley Food Policy Council includes United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley, CACLV, Second Harvest Food Bank, Rodale Institute, Buy Fresh Buy Local of the Greater Lehigh Valley, the Nurture Nature Center, St. Luke’s University Health Network, Lehigh Valley Health Network, Sodexo, The Seed Farm, RenewLV, Penn State Extension, Seven Generations Charter School, Lafayette College, New Bethany Ministries, Lehigh County Community Revitalization and Development, Northampton County Department of Economic Development, the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission and the West Ward Neighborhood Partnership.

Is the loss of farmland in the Lehigh Valley and the development and the traffic it brings of deep concern to you?
If you answer, “yes!” then we hope that you’ll attend RenewLV’s “Save It or Pave It,” Lunch/Discussion on Friday, 2/26 from noon to 2:30 p.m. on the 6th floor of NCC’s Fowler Center on Bethlehem’s Southside.

What will happen there?

1. We will review the regional goal for farmland preservation:
The 2005 Lehigh Valley Comprehensive Plan states the regional goal for farmland preservation as “To preserve approximately 25 percent of the land in Lehigh and Northampton counties for agriculture.”2. We will ask: “Are we on track to meet this goal?”3. We will explore strategies to preserve farmland, asking: “What are the steps that citizens, local municipalities and county leadership can take to preserve the agricultural character and economy of our region before it is lost to development?”

With the arrival of the LVPC’s projected 146,000 more people to the Lehigh Valley over the next 20 years, it is RenewLV’s position that we must do more to be proactive in preserving our farmland. As we see development outpacing farmland preservation, we believe that efforts to preserve farmland at all levels of government need to be supported and increased.

According to Buy Fresh Buy Local of the Greater Lehigh Valley’s Assessment Report: Lehigh Valley Local Food Economy, “the biggest challenge facing the Lehigh Valley local food economy is the loss of farmland (page 1).” Furthermore, “The local food economy generates $17 million in economic activity for the Lehigh Valley annually and has the potential to contribute much more.”

• Farmland is the foundation of our local food and agricultural economy, preserving farmland is economic development
• The Lehigh Valley’s farms and farmland provide much of the beauty, character and identity of our region
• Protecting farmland helps to keep our property taxes down. Cows don’t go to school.
• Protected farmland and open space increases property values. The Lehigh Valley Planning Commission’s report, Return on the Environment came to that conclusion.
• Protected farmland has numerous environmental benefits. Water filtration, ground water recharge, air purification, flood control, wildlife habitat and carbon sequestration.
• There is strong landowner interest in farmland preservation.

Polls repeatedly show that the people of the Lehigh Valley overwhelmingly want their farmland and open space protected, yet why isn’t more being done?

Come to our event and find out.

There is no cost to attend this event, but seating is limited, so it is necessary that you register. The lunch will be locally sourced.

We especially hope to see elected and appointed officials from the region’s rural municipalities…and farmers. Register now and reserve your seat.

An Historic Idea with a New Twist to Improve Food Security in the Lehigh Valley

Friends,

Did you know that 40% of the food grown in America is wasted from field to plate. This food waste can be captured to distribute local, fresher foods to the Lehigh Valley agencies that serve the hungry.

What’s old is new again. Have you heard about “gleaning” and the impact it can have on reducing food insecurity in the Lehigh Valley?

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines gleaning as the act of gathering grain or other material that is left after the main crop has been gathered. Applied regionally, gleaning would involve a network of volunteers to collect excess fresh food from farms, gardens, farmers markets, grocers and restaurants to provide it to those in need.

This old world concept has the potential to end food insecurity in the Lehigh Valley!

Why is this important? Monthly, almost 70,000 people are relying on Second Harvest Food Bank for food, and surplus produce can help feed our region’s hungry.

In order to make gleaning work in the Lehigh Valley, we need you. Are you a citizen who wants to do your part to make sure that your neighbors have enough nutritious food to eat? Regular people can make a huge impact, but they must first understand the existing food pantry system and be sensitive to the needs of the farmers and food producers.

The Food Recovery and Respect working group of the Lehigh Valley Food Policy Council is hosting a freeGleaning Workshop to inspire, inform and mobilize volunteers. They will meet on Feb. 17th from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Northampton County Human Services Building, 2801 Emrick Blvd., Bethlehem, PA 18020.

This informative workshop will feature Cathy Snyder, from Bucks County Rolling Harvest, a successful gleaning program since 2009 that connects farmers to neighbors in need. It grew from one person’s effort to a successful not-for-profit organization. Reservations are necessary to attend, as seating is limited.

Nancy Walters, Co-Chair of the Food Recovery and Respect working group, wants to increase the amount of fresh, nutritious food that the food pantries in the Lehigh Valley distribute to people who need it by recovering food that would otherwise be wasted. She already began gleaning efforts on a smaller scale through an all volunteer effort at the Easton Hunger Coalition, that has already been mentored by Rolling Harvest. Nancy’s hope is that the work in Easton will inspire an expanded volunteer network throughout the entire Lehigh Valley. These efforts can start as simply as a citizen asking a farmers market vendor “What are you going to do with that extra stuff?” and then delivering it to a nearby pantry.

But, to work well at a regional level volunteers must understand the logistics and respect the farmers’ properties. Please come to this workshop to learn what you need to know in order to have an impact.

We need you in the room! You’re invited to our 3rd Annual Summit for Smart Growth and Sustainable Communities on Dec. 4, from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Renaissance Hotel in Allentown. Register now to guarantee your seat at the table.

The 2014 Summit for Smart Growth and Sustainable Communities at Hotel Bethlehem

We are actively lining up sponsors for the 2015 Summit. Becoming a sponsor shows your support for smart growth and sustainability in the Lehigh Valley. It’s also a unique opportunity for exposure for your firm among the region’s leaders. It’s not too late to list your organization at one of these levels:

Sustaining Sponsor: $5,000

One prominently placed banner at event entrance

On stage recognition

Corporate promotional table in reception area

Event signage (group and individual)

Logo in program and promotional material

Recognition in media/social media coverage

Six (6) tickets to the event (table with recognition at table)

Partner: $2,500

On stage recognition

Event signage (group and individual)

Corporate promotional table

Logo in program

Recognition in media/social media coverage

Four (4) tickets to the event

Contributor: $1,000

Signage (group)

Logo in program

Recognition in media/social media coverage

Two (2) tickets to the event

Community Supporter: $500

Signage at event (group)

Logo in program

Recognition in media/social media coverage

One (1) ticket to the event

Join our 2015 Sponsors!

To sponsor this event, call us at 610-893-1060 or email us at smartgrowth@renewlv.org

For more information about the 2015 Summit, our nationally recognized Keynote Speakers, dynamic line up of panelists or to register – click here

This event, titled “Making Connections,” will present some compelling ideas on how to support food and beverage entrepreneurship and the ways that area farmers, food and beverage producers can scale up their businesses by understanding the perspectives of distributors and institutional buyers. The benefits of “going organic” (and the increased profits of doing so) also will be discussed.

This event has been especially designed for farmers and food producers. So if this is you, please clear your calendar and plan to come!

Supporting our region’s farmers and food producers is also important, so please come and help ensure the Lehigh Valley can develop a vibrant local food economy.

Starting at noon we’ll hear from our panelists and then break into small group discussions at the tables, where you can network, share information and move “from ideas to actions.”

We will be asking the question: “As a Region, Are We Leaving Money on the Table?”

At least 8.4 million people live 90 miles east of the Lehigh Valley in New York City. Yet produce is transported right by us from communities as far west of us as California and as close as Lancaster County. This food is headed to what might be the most lucrative market in the country and we should be capitalizing on our proximity to it?

A friend of RenewLV’s, Jon Middleton, who works with a large food service company believes that $200 million of what his firm spends on food could be sourced locally. Another friend of ours who runs an organic catering business claims that there aren’t enough organic products for her to buy, even though organic produce would garner a premium price for the farmers and producers. How can the Lehigh Valley capitalize on these opportunities?

We will explore how to close gaps in the regional food system so that everyone makes more money and farmland is preserved.

Small table discussion groups will explore options that can help local food and beverage entrepreneurs and the farmers who support them make more money, in other words, “grow the local food economy.” We believe that if we are smarter about growing our local food economy, then more farmers will keep their land in production thus improving profits and preserving farmland!

Middleton, a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, has used local, seasonal, sustainable and natural ingredients in his restaurants since the late 1970’s. He now grows his own on his 13-acre farm in southeastern Pennsylvania. He is interested in increasing the use of locally grown food in large institutions and believes efforts to buy local from just one large institution could result in as much as $200 million kept in the region annually.

Food prepared by Middleton and his team from GrowLV is featured each year at the Seed Farm‘s Farm-to-Table dinner. GrowLV is a consortium of Sodexo culinary teams in the Lehigh Valley sourcing fresh, local, sustainable and seasonal ingredients.

Baldassarre has extensive entrepreneurial experience as an owner and principal in Golden Valley Farms Coffee Roasters and Artisan Exchange West Chester LLC. He brings more than 30 years of experience in the financial services sector, including executive level experience at a number of the regions’ banks. He possesses extensive managerial, lending, accounting and regulatory knowledge that has been instrumental in the success of both projects.Golden Valley is a family-owned and operated artisan coffee roaster in West Chester, Pa. They specialize in roasting a large variety of organic, shade-grown, bird-friendly, and fair trade coffees. Artisan Exchange offers small-scale dedicated manufacturing space to food entrepreneurs in a fully-equipped 27,000 square foot manufacturing and distribution center. The Exchange was a finalist for the PA Governor’s Small Business Impact Award this year.

Baldassarre is interested in bringing a similar turn-key operation to the Lehigh Valley. This event presents a unique opportunity for you to connect with Frank, hear his ideas, and perhaps be one of the first to benefit from his interest in developing Lehigh Valley food manufacturing and distribution center.

Common Market is a mission-driven food distributor of local foods to the Mid-Atlantic region. They work to build strong relationships with farmers and producers in our region to ensure that they procure the highest quality local farm food available. The Farmer Outreach team coordinates with farmers on crop planning based on customer’s needs and conducts annual audits of farmers’ growing practices.

Common Market connects wholesale customers to farmers in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware by marketing and distributing good food to schools, hospitals, grocers and workplaces. They aggregate food in our warehouse from about 75 regional producers and deliver six days a week to almost 150 public and private schools, colleges and universities, hospitals, workplaces, grocery stores, nonprofits and faith institutions throughout the Delaware Valley.

Cynthia James from Rodale Institute will be available to answer questions about how farmers and gardeners can get organic certification.

Rodale Insitute’s hands-on programs are ideal for aspiring organic farmers and food-systems advocates. They provide experiential, skills-based education in organic farming. Students get a unique and comprehensive education by participating in all aspects of Rodale Institute’s diverse farm operation, learning from educators in the classroom and in the field alongside a team of experts.